The Mom Stop: Time to save your own skin

Lydia Seabol Avant More Content Now

Tuesday

May 8, 2018 at 9:31 AMMay 8, 2018 at 9:33 AM

My great-uncle was diagnosed with melanoma — the most deadly form of skin cancer — when he was in his late 70’s. Another uncle was diagnosed when he was in his 20’s and still in college. I was 33 and six months pregnant when I got the call that I, too, had melanoma.

And yet the skin cancer doesn’t often run in families. Only 10 percent of those with melanoma have a family history of the skin cancer, according to www.cancer.org. About 90 percent of non-melanoma skin cancers and 86 percent of melanomas are caused by sun exposure.

The fact is, skin cancer is the most common kind of cancer in the U.S., with one in five Americans estimated to develop skin cancer by the age of 70, according to www.skincancer.org. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form, with an estimated 4.3 million cases in the U.S. each year, causing more than 3,000 deaths. Squamous cell carcinoma, the second-most common form, affects more than 1 million people each year and causes more than 15,000 deaths in the U.S.

An estimated 178,560 cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year. About one person dies of melanoma every hour.

I remember the phone call I got from my dermatologist’s nurse, telling me I had melanoma on my chin. I wondered what it meant for the baby I was carrying, my third child. I wondered what it meant for my two other children, for my husband, and for our future. I had seen the large skin graft scars on my uncles’ back and heard stories of how lucky he was to survive his melanoma.

I wondered if I would survive mine.

But I was one of the lucky ones. Mine was discovered early — and when it comes to skin cancer, that can make all the difference. While skin cancer is the most widespread form of cancer among Americans, it’s also the easiest to cure, if it’s diagnosed and treated early.

Everyone should practice full-body self-examinations of their skin, looking for new or changing moles or lesions that could be cancerous or pre-cancerous, suggests the Skin Cancer Foundation. If you see anything suspicious, make an appointment with the dermatologist immediately. If you are fair-skinned or freckle easily, make a habit of getting a full body checkup at the dermatologist once a year. If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer previously, you should be going for full body checks at least twice a year.

And, always wear SPF sunscreen. People who wear SPF daily are 50 percent less likely to develop skin cancers than those who don’t. Even if you are just headed to work, going to your kids’ ballgame, it can make a difference. If you are going to be out in the sun for longer periods of time, cover your skin. Wear a hat or wear clothes with built-in SPF protection. You might be saving yourself from scarring or worse later.

Soon after my melanoma diagnosis, a quarter-size piece of skin was removed from my chin and I was declared free from the cancer. In the three years, I’ve had multiple plastic surgery "revisions" to make the scar on my chin a little less obvious. Over time, the redness and puffiness have faded. Recently, when I told a new friend about the melanoma, she seemed surprised — she hadn’t noticed the scar. I was ecstatic.

But despite makeup and follow-up surgeries, I’d like to think of my scar as a reminder to myself — that I can’t get sunburned, and I have to check my skin regularly. I have too much to live for.

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Here are some tips on what to look for when checking for possible skin cancer, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation:

‒ A mole, birthmark, beauty mark, or any brown spot that: Changes color, increases in size or thickness, changes in texture, is irregular in outline, or is bigger than the size of a pencil eraser, appears after age 21.

‒ A spot or sore that continues to itch, hurt, crust, scab, erode, or bleed.

‒ An open sore that does not heal within 3 weeks.

— Lydia Seabol Avant writes The Mom Stop for The Tuscaloosa News in Alabama. Reach her at lydia.seabolavant@tuscaloosanews.com.

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